1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to manufacturing and, in particular, to sealing structures. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for applying sealant to structures.
2. Background
In manufacturing products, such as aircraft, parts may be attached to each other to form structures for the aircraft. These structures may include, for example, without limitation, a fuselage, a wing, an engine, a fuel tank, and other suitable structures. In manufacturing different structures for an aircraft, some operations may be more time consuming than desired. For example, forming holes in parts and installing fasteners to attach the parts to each other may take more time than desired.
As another example, the application of sealant may take more time than desired. Sealant may be applied to locations of fasteners, seams, edges, and/or other suitable locations. Requirements may be present for the placement of sealant on a structure. The sealant may be required to be placed with a selected volume, within a defined space, and/or with a selected amount of thickness. For example, without limitation, if sealant is placed between seams between two parts, the sealant may be required to have a selected thickness with respect to the seam. If sealant is placed over a fastener, the sealant may be required to have a selected diameter and/or height with respect to a diameter of the fastener, a height of the fastener, a diameter of the hole, a depth of the hole, a diameter of a countersink, a depth of the counter sink, and/or other suitable parameters.
To meet these types of requirements, inspections, reworking of the sealant, replacement of the sealant, and/or other operations may need to be performed. As a result, the application of sealant in aircraft structures may often be more time consuming than desired and may require skilled operators.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus that takes into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as other possible issues.